I might be in the great minority here, but I'll venture a theory on one of the main reasons why the winter blackmouth fishing in South Sound is so poor now. First of all, the numbers of delayed release Chinook have been greatly reduced - the closing of the freshwater rearing of these fish in Capitol Lake coincides pretty much with the decline of the winter fishery, and the McAllister hatchery's closure didn't help either.

Consider the commercial herring fishery's LONG term depletion of herring stocks over the past three or four decades. I believe that these stocks have been over fished and under reported for years and years. I remember the abundance of herring that were easily seen while fishing South Sound years ago. Where are they now? Hiding? No, they are gone.

Consider the tremendous abundance of marine mammals in South Sound. They have to eat something, especially herring and salmon. No wonder South Sound experiences such a low survival rate. There's nothing for salmon living their lives down there to eat! First, the delayed release hatchery salmon feed the marine mammals when the natural ecosystem is devoid of natural fish, and then a glut of hatchery salmon released into the system with enough numbers so that many do survive.

Our South Sound ecosystem is out of balance. The marine fish like pollock, tom cod and perch are gone too. The ecosystem needs a lot of help, and some real intervention.